Flying Saucers: Beyond the Crankocrats . . .

Catchy title, huh? Sadly this is the truth of much of UFOlogy. To become a real life comic strip is one thing, but it has gone beyond that. It has become a dangerous modern mythology that like a stagnant pool of water breeds pockets of cults. The truth has been lost, sacrificed by those Crankocrats, as I call them, who have led the topic into the absurd.

The early history of “flying saucers” is only regurgitated to use as a substantive foundation to then introduce a vast world of paranormal experiences that seem little different than those conjured at old séance tables. We hear claims, counterclaims, a rigid narrative that goes nowhere.

It is the one reason why I avoid the subject publically. I have investigated claims of UFOs, but only of historical claims. My goal was an analytical compilation of the history of the phenomenon and how it evolved. The upshot would undeniably prove that for the most part the entire phenomenon has been reduced to mythology. It’s an interesting mythology, and an entertaining one in movies. But a mythology nonetheless.

The pantheon of UFOlogy has evolved like the myths of ancient Greece, only minus any nobility, heroism, or moral for the story. It is both sad and dangerous, sad because it obscures truth and only breeds Anti-Science and Anti-Theory; dangerous because there is a kernel of truth. Obviously, unidentified objects have been seen flying in the sky. I know reputable people, including scientists, who have reported them. Historical studies and collations do indeed reveal some minor patterns to the phenomenon that are positive, but most patterns are negative and reveal a marketed hype. The subject has devolved into a sensational logline. “Aliens” are the purview of cracker barrel philosophers and others who wish to use the idea of higher “beings” or “powers” to warn mankind, chastise those who are the wayward (in their view), and get a feeling of privilege for themselves.

Interesting sketch from a witness that matches a saucer seen over Germany (captured in a photo) the decade before, only this was on an Australian beach. The big thing is, the first reports (1947) really don’t describe a saucer with a dome.

The most respectable UFOlogists avoided this crowd and condemned them as kooks, which they are. But early UFOlogy had the likes of Donald Keyhoe as a commanding figure, and more than one UFO organization had admirals and generals and astronomers as members. This brought respect to the whole pursuit and this allowed the press to sweep under the carpet the debris of cranks. Each citizen’s watch group remained focused on reports of flying disks in the atmosphere. That was basically the limit of it. Other than this, the promotion of the existence of flying saucers from outer space in our atmosphere was used as proof that interstellar travel is possible and we better get cracking at it ourselves.

Now, today, the report of a flying saucer in the atmosphere isn’t going to attract any attention. We have abductions, hybrid creations, contactees, conspiracies, secret bases, and little “greys” running the White House. Something seen fleetingly high above really sounds dull by comparison. The fodder of early UFOlogy just doesn’t rate news anymore.

My section of The Quester Files on UFOs still awaits putting up. The link is there on the main menu for UFOs, but the link goes nowhere. I have yet to put up samplings of historic research. It is a grueling thing to do. Much of my research revolves around aircraft accidents that were supposed to be involved with UFOs, and most of those claims simply aren’t true. You see, with a wreck you have something tangible to investigate. In many instances I was the first to get Air Force accident reports released, and this was decades after some of the more celebrated accidents, like with Mantell and others. The information was preserved, stark and clear and devoid of any of the redaction that sensationalism later said must exist in order to explain why the Air Force denied there was a flying saucer involved in the accident. Redaction or just plain error had occurred. In some cases, the Air Force accident reports prove that Project Blue Book didn’t have much information as well.

I will be putting up some of these here, in preparation to upload more detailed accounts on my website. They are fascinating topics, but none prove or disprove UFOs or even lead us one step further.

Pilot encounters with UFOS are more interesting, especially when there is more than one witness and these witnesses even include passengers. Then you’ve also got something to investigate.

The phenomenon occurs, that is, the phenomenon of encountering something unidentified. Yet even in the most reliable cases, where the pilots and passengers clearly saw something, the “UFO” is often described quite different than in other reliable encounters. Why no consistency? Or is there and no one has fleshed out the true reports? As a real phenomenon it deserves a massive collation, as I intend in Report on the Flying Saucers. I figure– why not? I seem to irk or upset some faction, no matter what I take on. Why shrink from this?

Fate’s famous first edition gives us the image of what Ken Arnold saw, the first man to officially see a “UFO.” Fate was quite faithful to his description. Not exactly a flying saucer as we have come to imagine them, is it?

I did the same thing with BIGFOOT, a sincere attempt to distill the most reliable and consistent data since the times of frontier journals to the present. I am now the man whom Bigfooters love to hate. I did this with the Bermuda Triangle first and got typecast with that subject. When I went analytical on Flight 19 and removed it from the aura of the Triangle (in terms of how it ended up anyway), the mainstream loved me and the paranormal crowd gasped. I just cannot please too many people it seems. I don’t type in CAPS. I don’t get rude. . .often. It just seems that the curious mainstream likes what I do, but very few know I approach these subjects objectively. And the cottage industries ignore me because I have changed the narrative of the genres.

The mainstream haunts True Crime and Cold Case, where I now appear the reformed and vibrant Grinch, ready to be greeted by the loving Whos as I race down and repent from having investigated so many odd topics. Those who follow me for Cold Case have asked me to avoid touching on these “sensational” topics lest I get painted with the tinfoil hat brush. But my approach is not tinfoil. For some that does not matter. They don’t read past the brand name and the article title.

But I think a critical but objective study of UFOs needs to be done. Not a mindless compilation where everything is included, but an analytical one that picks out the inconsistences the Crankocrats who run the genre have indiscriminately put together.

Folklore does that, and folklorists accept every tidbit or claim. Folklorists compile. They do not analyze. Why? Ultimately, because even the folklorists do not take it seriously. They may believe there is some kernel of truth, but the quantitate amount of mental and physical labor required to sort it out is not something they want to do.

I dig mysteries. I don’t mind digging into them. I just don’t want to get buried.

* * *

Since 1990 Gian J. Quasar has investigated a broad range of mysterious subjects, from strange disappearances to serial murders, earning in that time the unique distinction of being likened to “the real life Kolchak.” However, he is much more at home with being called The Quester. “He’s bloody eccentric, an historian with no qualifications who sticks his nose into affairs and gets results.” He is the author of several books, one of which inspired a Resolution in Congress.